


Just another Christmas story

by AlyCalypso



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-typical language, Christmas, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Happy Ending, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, and because this is a damn Christmas movie!!, because I'm sappy like this, one homophobic slur, this is basically a cheesy Christmas movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:13:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21820738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyCalypso/pseuds/AlyCalypso
Summary: When Ian tells his sister he has a boyfriend and will bring him home for Christmas, he digs himself into a big hole of lies. But it's when he asks an old acquaintance to pretend to be his boyfriend that things really start to go wrong.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 87
Kudos: 356





	1. Chapter 1, or How to dig yourself into a hole

**Author's Note:**

> This is called “I've been watching too many Christmas movies and they mixed with Gallavich in my brain”.

Watching Debbie work around the kitchen like a busy bee was vertigo inducing. She opened the fridge, took something out, closed the fridge, dropped the item on the counter, went back to the fridge, she forgot something, grabbed something else, starting mixing ingredients, but oh wait she needed more eggs, _let me check the recipe_ , checked her phone, dropped the spatula, decided she didn't have the right ingredients so she would improvise something, going back to the fridge again, and all that while trying to maintain a conversation. Ian mostly just stared at the coffee in his mug, vibrating with the waves of energy his sister was sending out. It was barely seven in the morning and she was already baking cookies for all the children in her daughter's class and planning the holidays coming up.

“So I talked to Fiona last night, and she will definitely be coming up for Christmas, and she's bringing her new boyfriend so I'm thinking she will have your room and you might have to share with Liam. Lip and Tami...”

“Debs, Debs.” Ian interrupted, bringing a hand to his throbbing temple. He was barely awake and that was a lot of information to ingest in such a short time. “Can you just... slow down?”

Debbie started to stir her cookie mix even faster and shook her head.

“I can't, okay? We just have a lot to plan if we want to have a great Christmas.”

“Why do you even care? We never really celebrated Christmas, or any holidays for that matter. Let's just crack open a few beers and see what's on TV that night.”

Debbie suddenly stopped stirring, dropping her spatula in the bowl, sending dough flying all over the place, and she gave her brother a chilling glance.

“I care because now Franny is old enough to know what Christmas is and to compare our shitty non-existent traditions with her friends' awesome holidays and I don't want to ruin that for her. And also, it's the first time Fiona is coming back in almost three years so I want to prove it to her that I'm doing a great job as the head of the household and that things have not gone to shit in her absence! Now, are you okay to share a room with Liam while she's here or do you have extenuating circumstances that absolutely require you having your own room with a double bed?”

Ian knew he shouldn't poke the bear, especially when his sister was so riled up, but he couldn't help it, her organization skills didn't make a lot of sense to him and the prospect of sharing a room with one of his brothers – again – after he had spent so many years working up to his own private room wasn't very appealing, even if it was only for a few days.

“Why do I have to share with Liam, already? Why can't Carl bunk with him?”

“Because Carl is bringing a girl.” Debbie, as if she had explained it thousands of times before. “I don't know which one, but he told me he's bringing a girl. Fiona has a boyfriend now, and Lip is coming with Tami and Freddy. You and Liam are the only single Gallaghers here so you're sharing a room.”

Ian sipped some of his coffee and raised his eyebrows at his sister.

“You're single.”

“Yeah, but I have Franny.”

True, the logic made some sort of sense, but Ian still didn't feel like sharing a room. He had done that for too many years, first with his siblings, and later on with an overly annoying cellmate for nine months and that had been the last straw. Coming out of prison, he had promised himself he would only ever share a room again with a boyfriend he loved enough to move in with, and that was clearly not happening soon. So he figured lying to his sister to get some privacy wouldn't be the end of the world, it was for a good cause after all – his sanity.

“And I... have a boyfriend.” he blurted out. “I can't share with Liam.”

That was a good lie, it was believable, he could have a boyfriend after all, and when said boyfriend would stood him up and never show up for Christmas, Ian would earn the sympathy of his siblings and they would let him keep the room by himself.

“You do?” Debbie exclaimed, sounding way too surprised. “How come we've never met him? You never brought him here!”

“Yeah, well it's pretty recent, and we've been staying at his place.” Ian replied, maintaining his eyes down on his very interesting coffee, trying to keep the lie simple enough. “I wanted to introduce the whole family to him over the holidays, so thank you for ruining the surprise.”

Here you go, making Debbie feel guilty about ruining a potential sweet surprise was guaranteed to sell the lie and seal the deal, Ian was good for it.

“Sorry.” she mumbled, finally putting her cookies in the oven. “Well you can keep your room I guess... Maybe we can send Liam to stay at Lip's for a few days and Fiona can have his room?”

“Great plan.” Ian encouraged, finishing his coffee and dropping the empty mug in the sink. “I'm sure Lip and Tami will love having Liam around, free daycare for little Freddy, right?”

And with that, he left the kitchen and headed to work. Scoring a room for himself in the Gallagher house was truly an accomplishment he felt proud of. This would be a good day.

******

What Ian hadn't anticipated when he thought he had won that conversation, was Debbie's constant badgering about his new boyfriend. She wanted to know his name, his age, what he did, how did they meet, etc. etc. and even when Ian was trying his best to keep the details to a bare minimum and divert the discussion as soon as his mystery boyfriend came up, he felt like Debbie was getting closer and closer to call him out on his bullshit. Ian did not have a boyfriend, and he hadn't had a boyfriend since he came out of prison two years prior, or even before that really. He had had a few relationships here and there, and maybe he called a guy his boyfriend once or twice, but nothing that led to a situation stable and fulfilling enough that he had expressed the desire to formally introduce the guy over the holidays to his family. And now that he thought about it, his lie to Debbie seemed way too big of a deal for her not to cling on to it like she did. In other words, he had dug himself into a pretty big hole and didn't know how to get out. With now only a week left before Christmas, it was not like he could randomly meet a guy and get acquainted enough to present him to his siblings as his long-term mystery boyfriend, and he had no friend that could pass as his boyfriend because, clearly, his best and only friend was his older brother Lip. So, yeah, he was fucked and Debbie would force him to share a room with Liam for the whole time Fiona would be visiting, which wasn't the worst thing in itself but it felt like a huge defeat to Ian and he wasn't ready to claim himself beaten yet.

He was currently waiting for said little sister outside of a small and cheap bakery in the neighborhood adjacent to theirs because Debbie had gotten in her head she wanted to buy an extravagant dessert for Christmas and she had promised Ian she would loan him her car if he helped her pick it, and a warm car was a commodity Ian really craved in this freezing Chicago winter so he had agreed. And now she was late, and Ian was warming up his hands against the hot cocoa he had bought from a street vendor on the way there because the guy looked enough like Santa to make it festive. He was pacing back and forth in front of the store, trying to keep himself from turning into an unwilling ice sculpture, when he knocked into someone and almost spilled his hot drink on the stranger.

“Dude, fucking watch it!” the guy yelled, expressing himself just as much with his eyebrows than with his words.

“Sorry.” Ian mumbled under his breath, until a light bulb lit up in his brain. “Wait, I know you!”

The guy stopped and took the time to take in the tall redhead that was Ian.

“Fucking Gallagher.” he almost laughed. “Of course you'd be the one spilling your steaming hot drink on me. Always here to make my life a living hell.”

And there it was, just the mere presence of that guy made Ian want to rip his throat out. This guy was the reason Ian didn't want to share a bedroom ever again.

“But I didn't. And you're the one who fucking bumped into me.”

“Fuck you I didn't, it's your tall gangly ass that bumped into me!”

Ian couldn't help but chuckle at the nerves on that guy.

“Oh, right, cause you never do anything wrong, you never leave your nail clippings all over the fucking floor, or your dirty socks on my bed!”

“What the fuck are you even talking about right now?”

To be honest, Ian wasn't quite sure why he had brought that up, but he was just filled with anger every time he laid eyes on this guy and he needed to remind him of all of his flaws for some reason. And just as he was about to reply some nasty comment, his little sister's voice came in between them.

“Hi.”

She smiled at Ian and extended her hand to his interlocutor.

“I'm Debbie, Ian's sister.”

Obviously taken aback by her good mood and the interruption, he shook her hand and replied.

“Mickey.”

“Nice to meet you. You're the boyfriend, right?”

For the first time, Ian exchanged a look with Mickey that he could agree on.

“Er, Debs... That's not...” he stumbled through his sentence but Debbie didn't let him finish it.

“It's very nice to finally put a face – and a name – on that mystery boyfriend Ian has told me so little about. We're expecting you on the 24th at five, come with an empty stomach.”

And with that, Debbie was gone inside the bakery and the only thing left from her presence was the store bell ringing as she crossed the threshold. Ian was stuck there, eyes and mouth wide open. What had just happened?

“What the fuck?” Mickey finally breathed after what felt like a long time. “You told your sister I was your _boyfriend_? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“No, I...” Ian stuttered. “I didn't. She...”

He pointed at the space Debbie had vacated, and then at the store, still trying to comprehend the mess his sister had left him in. _What the fuck?_

“I never mentioned you to my sister.” Ian almost pleaded as Mickey stared him down. “And even less call you my boyfriend, why would I even do that?”

“Fucking right you wouldn't! I know you're an out and proud fairy or whatever, but that ain't me!”

“Right, I... Did you just call me a 'fairy'?”

This guy was all kinds of wrong in Ian's book, but he had almost forgotten about his homophobic tendencies. It was different in prison, they were all some level of gay, because at one point a hole is a hole, right? So Ian tended to forget he was one of the only actually 100% gay guys on the outside. Not that him and Mickey had ever... god, no! But he had heard things, here and there, and Mickey's now shifty glance was saying a lot.

“Look, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, or whatever, but my sister is now convinced that you're my boyfriend, and she just invited you to our house for Christmas. You should... come.”

The words almost got caught in Ian's throat and strangled him but he still managed to get them out. This was a terrible idea that was forming in his head, even worse than when he had told Debbie he had a boyfriend, but it also seemed like all of his problems were solving themselves and he didn't want to miss the chance to win against Debbie at the musical bedrooms game. He regretted it as soon as he said it though, as Mickey looked at him with wild eyes and Ian was sure in that instant that his ex-cellmate was about to return to prison for his murder.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mickey whisper-shouted, taking a step forward.

Ian took a step back and held his hands in surrender.

“Wait... I will pay you.”

This made Mickey stop.

“Pay me for?”

Right, it could have been confusing and Ian wanted to make it extra clear he wasn't talking about exchange of sexual favors, he wasn't ready to dig his grave just yet.

“To pretend to be my boyfriend. Just for Christmas. You come to my house, meet my siblings, eat your weight in food and drink your weight in beers, and then we never have to see each other ever again for the rest of eternity. I will tell them you dumped me, they will feel bad for me, and everybody's good.”

Mickey seemed to ponder the idea. Ian crossed his fingers behind his back.

“Why can't you just tell your sister she made a mistake and I'm not your boyfriend?”

“Oh, it's a long story, and she can be a bit scary sometimes, I'd rather not risk it.”

“Scarier than me?” Mickey smirked.

It was almost charming, if Ian was being honest with himself.

“Eh... Kinda.” he admitted – he truly, really never wanted to find himself on Debbie's bad side.

“Fine.” Mickey conceded. “300 a day and I'll do it.”

Three hundred dollars was a little steep but Ian really needed his help.

“100, and you can leave with a ton of leftovers.” he tried to bargain.

“250, I leave with leftovers and _you_ buy the six pack of beers I will bring as a gift.”

“200, you leave with leftovers, I buy the beer, and I don't ask you to kiss me as a part of your role as my boyfriend.”

“Fine.” Mickey settled. “But the beer better be good, I'm not some cheap ass who brings water diluted booze to my boyfriend's family when I'm meeting them for the first time.”

Ian couldn't help the smile that escaped. This situation was very shitty and a million things could go wrong, but Mickey's last remark led him to believe he had made the right choice. He extended his hand.

“We've got ourselves a deal.”

Mickey scoffed at the hand that was presented to him, and he jerked his head toward the window of the store.

“Don't you think your sister's gonna find it a little weird if she happens to be watching out the window and see us shaking hands? Aren't we supposed to be a couple?”

Ian retracted his hand, Mickey was right. He nodded.

“Your family's house is the one on North Wallace, right?” Mickey added. “Frank Gallagher's run down shack with all of his evil spawns running around?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Alright, I'll be there on the 24th at five. See ya Gallagher!”

Mickey bumped Ian's shoulder with his fist – Ian wasn't quite sure this was very couple-y either, but whatever – and he disappeared. Ian took a deep breath. He had found a fake boyfriend for his sister's holidays, but instead of relaxing him, it was filling him with even more anxiety than before, when he was alone with his lie. What a clusterfuck of a day.


	2. Chapter 2, or The World is torturing Mickey Milkovich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas market, some hot chocolate and an ice skating rink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, to place some context into this fic: Ian and Mickey never dated but they both did go to prison and were cellmates. They fought like an old married couple but never slept together. The rest is still pretty canon (especially regarding the Gallaghers), Ian is bipolar and did go to prison for his Gay Jesus stint and blowing up a van, but Mickey ended up there for another Milkovich-related illegal stint, no Sammy or escaping to Mexico, no cartel. And Mickey is still (more or less) deep in the closet, but Svetlana and Yevgeny do not exist in this universe.

Mickey had imagined his life to be a lot of things in his mid-20s: having spent a few years in prison, _check_ , relying on alcohol and way too many cigarettes to get him through his days, _check_ , not having his own place or a day-to-day legal job, _check_ , still being terrified of his father, _check_. But he had thought for a long time that he would have been married to a woman by now, maybe popped out a couple of kids, and not fucking guys regularly like he was doing, so, all in all, things were okay. And he didn't live with his father anymore, so that was a big win, he was lucky his sister was paid big bucks to fuck rich guys and accepted to put up with him crashing in her two-bedroom apartment in a relatively gentrified neighborhood.

He was deep in a dreamless sleep, and the bed was very comfortable, way more comfortable than he remembered it being, he could have stayed there all day, but he was suddenly rolled over and landed face first on the floor.

“Fuck!” he groaned, trying to gather his bearings and remember where he was or what was happening, before his sister started yelling at him.

“That's what you get for crashing on my bed, you fucking moron!”

“What?”

He blinked a few times. He was laying down on the floor of Mandy's bedroom, he had landed on her over fluffy pink rug so the fall could have been worse, and he was still fully dressed from last night except for his shoes thrown about somewhere near the door.

“You came home before I did.” Mandy started to explain, still yelling, and Mickey spotted her standing on her bed, looking down on him. “Pissed out drunk I'm guessing, and you fucking crashed on my bed! Your bedroom is two doors that way you asshole! I had to sleep on the couch because no way I'm getting in your cum stained sheets that you never wash!”

Mickey rolled over on his back, his head hurting from his hungover, the morning sun, his fall and his sister yelling at him. He vaguely remembered the night before. He knew there had been booze, and he was pretty sure he had gotten his dick sucked but he couldn't have sworn it. And there he was now, on the floor, incapable of doing anything else than groan and call himself miserable. He heard Mandy jump down from the bed, and then she was stepping over him, heading for the kitchen.

“What time is it?” he managed to get out.

“Ten. And you're lucky I let you sleep that long! You fucking owe me!”

He closed his eyes, listening to Mandy make a ruckus in the kitchen, probably making herself breakfast. Food didn't seem too appealing right now...

He opened his eyes again when Mandy kicked him in the ribs.

“Yo, loser! It's almost noon now, get up!”

“Fuck Mandy. What the hell?”

“You're sleeping on my floor now! And your fly's open by the way. Don't tell me you jerked off on my bed or I will cut your dick off!”

Mickey finally sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“I didn't. Or at least I don't think I did, I think I got laid last night.”

“Good for her.” Mandy spat. “I'm glad some poor random girl got fucked by my pathetic mess of a brother. Now get up, get dressed, you're taking me out.”

“Like hell I'm taking you out!”

“Yes you are. You slept on my bed, and then on the floor of my bedroom, so now you're gonna go change your shirt, grab your wallet and we're going to the Christmas market where you're going to buy me a hot chocolate and maybe some jewelry from one of these homemade hippie stands.”

Mickey rose to his feet slowly, hating his sister and everything she represented on that very day. It would take him a lot of bitching and cursing, but he knew deep down he was going to do what she asked of him because the bitch had a few hidden weapons in the apartment and she wasn't afraid to use them. So he got changed, brushed his teeth, swallowed a full mug of black coffee and they were on their way to wherever his sister wanted to go, the freezing Chicago wind that hit their faces as soon as they left the building making Mickey hate Mandy a little more.

“Why is everybody so obsessed with Christmas, anyway?” he grumbled halfway there.

“Because it's fun and just sappy enough to be enjoyable.” Mandy explained. “Also we get presents and free stuff so... Who else do you know is obsessed with Christmas anyway?”

“Gallagher's sister, she's...”

Mickey stopped walking, suddenly remembering what he agreed to the previous day.

“Oh shit.”

Mandy noticed her brother standing there. She turned to look at him with the Milkovich signature raised eyebrows.

“As in _Frank_ Gallagher, the drunk useless guy from the old neighborhood? What the fuck are you talking about right now?”

Mickey closed his hanging mouth and started walking again. Why? Why had he agree to such a stupid scam Ian fucking Gallagher had roped him into? He knew he should have shived the guy in prison... He hadn't wanted to extend his stay at the time and now here he was. Mandy threw her hands in the air and fell in her brother's footsteps when she realized he wasn't going to explain.

“Whatever.” she muttered. “Now I'm adding marshmallows to my hot chocolate order.”

******

Christmas markets were a nightmare: there was jolly music and families with kids everywhere, now Mickey understood why his sister had chosen this place as a punishment, it was pure torture. If one more Santa wannabe said “Ho ho ho” to him, Mickey was going to grab one of those giant candy cane decorations and beat them to death with it.

“Can we go now?” he said for the millionth time after Mandy had finished her hot chocolate with five dollars worth of add-ons and Mickey had begrudgingly agreed to buy her handmade earrings from some hipster lady called Rain or Willow or another equally stupid name.

“No.” Mandy simply declared. “I kinda want to try the ice skating rink.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mickey whined. “I'm not going there with you!”

“Oh, I'm not asking you to.” Mandy replied, finally making some sense. “You're so uncoordinated you're going to fall on your ass and take me down with you in the first five seconds of us being on the ice, I'm doing that one on my own. But you're going to stand by and take pictures.”

“Fine.” Mickey agreed, already finding his seat near the ice. “But after that, we're going home and I'm going back to bed.”

Mandy nodded and started heading toward the skate rental booth when a familiar voice reached Mickey's ears.

“Hi! Mickey, right?”

Both him and Mandy turned around to see the trifecta of redheaded Gallaghers – Ian, his sister Debbie, and a little girl – as well as some Black kid and a couple with a toddler. Ian was looking panicked again, but Debbie seemed genuinely happy to see Mickey – a feeling that Mickey did not understand nor reciprocate.

“I told Ian he should invite his boyfriend to come hang out with us this afternoon.” Debbie kept talking. “He told me you were busy but I guess you manage to get here anyway, that's great!”

Mickey felt Mandy approached him and then she was whispering in his ear:

“Who are these people and what is happening?”

“Er...” was all Mickey could reply. How did he always end up in these fucked up situations and why was Debbie Gallagher always there to put him on the spot was now becoming his life-long interrogation.

“Hey!” Ian smiled, taking over the awkwardness and moving a couple of steps forward to wrap Mickey into a hug and talk under his breath so only them could hear. “If you run now, I can make up an excuse. If you stay, I'll get you another two hundred.”

When Ian broke the hug, Mickey caught her sister's wide open eyes and her lips mouthing “The fuck?”.

“Just a second.” he said politely to the Gallaghers and grabbed his sister's arm to pull her out of earshot. “Okay, don't make it weird, but Ian Gallagher is paying me to pretend to be his boyfriend.”

“What the fuck?” Mandy exclaimed. “How did you...? Like... what? That hot ginger's gay? Why... I don't understand... Why would you agree to that?”

“Because I'm making two hundred bucks a day with that deal.” Mickey muttered. “And yes, he's gay, and we met in prison, he was my cellmate.”

“ _He_ was your cellmate? The guy you wanted to strangle every day for nine months? Did you guys ever... you know?”

“What? Fuck no! I'm not... N- No!!”

“What?” Mandy chuckled. “He's hot! If I were you, I would have played for the other team for that guy!”

Mickey shook his head. Yes, it was a fact, Ian Gallagher was hot, and maybe Mandy wasn't privy to all of the details of his private life – like his sexuality for example – but it didn't change the fact that he never slept with the redhead and never intended to.

“Just... Play along, okay?”

They returned to the group of expecting Gallaghers, and Mickey was very glad his sister didn't blew their cover, even if he caught her sending him a few weird glances every once in a while.

After a minute or so of pleasantries, Mandy and Debbie decided they really wanted to go ice skating, and they brought Debbie's kid along, as well as the Black kid – or Liam, as Mickey learned – and the couple – Lip and Tami apparently – leaving Mickey alone with Ian and the toddler. The three of them sat at a table near the rink, Mickey taking pictures of his sister with her phone from times to times, and Ian bouncing the toddler on his lap.

“So that's your sister?” Ian asked after a too long moment of silence.

“Yeah, so?”

“I remember she came to visit you a few times at Beckman. I just never saw her.”

Mickey nodded, this conversation was boring him, he was not interested in making small talk with the redhead, he was just paid to pretend to be a couple around his family. Ian seemed to catch on quite fast though, as he diverted his attention from Mickey to the toddler babbling about.

“Look Freddy, your mommy and daddy are coming around. Say 'hi mommy', 'hi daddy'!”

“Do you always talk to him like he's fucking stupid?” Mickey couldn't help but ask when he heard Ian's exasperating baby voice.

“He's 2, Mick. I'm not gonna talk to him like he's a Nobel Prize winner.”

“Still, don't you want to elevate his language skill or some bullshit like that?”

“Since when are you an expert in child development?!”

“I'm not. The way you talk to him just makes me want to bash your head against this fence!”

Mickey kept his gaze on the ice rink, watching his sister talk and laugh with Debbie (what was that about anyway?). He heard Ian scoff from somewhere on his right.

“Every time I spend two seconds with you, I'm reminded why I was so happy to be released from prison.” the redhead said with a bite.

“Oh yeah, cause prison without me would have been a fucking walk in the park, a paradise where you'd want to spend the rest of your life?!”

“Fuck you Milkovich.”

“Fuck _you_. I'm not the one who thought he would be a good idea for us to pretend to be a couple!”

That really shut the ginger up. Mickey knew he was right, this whole thing was a stupid idea. And this whole outing with Mandy was even worse. He was done. He stood up from his chair, ready to leave.

“You can tell them I got sick or whatever. I'm going home.”

Ian didn't even try to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry if your name is Rain or Willow, I have nothing against you personally, this piece of fiction does not reflect my true feelings about these names.


	3. Chapter 3, or Ian is having a really bad day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some slippery ice and a hospital Christmas party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know I've been posting extremely regularly these past few days, but for those who know me this is not my usual posting rhythm, so don't be alarm if I suddenly stop updating for an extended amount of time: I'll be back!
> 
> Also, there are mentions of Ian's job in this chapter, and even though I'm trying to stay close to canon, I did not want to include Paula, his PO, because I don't like her. So Ian got out of prison and ended up with a regular PO, not a psychopath, this whole storyline never happened.

“Mickey doesn't talk much, does he?” Lip asked that night over dinner.

After Mickey had left so suddenly at the ice skating rink, Ian had made an excuse for him, claiming he wasn't feeling good and wanted to go rest. His siblings had felt sorry for him, but Mandy had just laughed and said she needed to go check on her brother. Before leaving, she gave Ian a hug and said she had been very happy to meet the boyfriend her brother had told her so much about. It wasn't hard for Ian to guess that Mickey had told her the truth about their situation. At least Mandy was cool about it, so that was that.

“He talks with me.” Ian shrugged.

“I like Mandy.” Debbie added. “She's a lot of fun.”

“I had never met her before.” Ian shrugged again.

He really wanted to put an end to this conversation, but a part of him was glad his family was so invested in the guy he was supposedly dating, it made him feel good for the future, when he would actually be dating a guy worth introducing to the wolf pack that was the Gallagher clan.

“How long have you and Mickey been together anyway?” Debbie asked, serving Franny a huge spoonful of Mac & Cheese.

Ian hid himself behind his glass of water.

“We... Er... He was my cellmate in prison.”

Apparently the best lies were the ones that came as close to the truth as possible, Ian had read that somewhere...

“Haven't you been out of prison for two years?” Tami chipped in from where she was feeding Fred.

“You and Mickey have been together for two years?” Debbie almost squealed.

… And sometimes sticking as close as possible to the truth would come bite you in the ass.

“No.” Ian tried to salvage. “Well... On and off. We were mostly fucking. We've only been serious for a little while.”

“That Mickey seems like a pretty angry guy.” Lip noted with an edge to his tone that Ian didn't like.

“Maybe he has reasons to be angry.” Ian bit back. “And maybe you should spend more time with him before you start judging.”

And with that, Ian stood up and left to his room, slamming the door behind himself. Why was he upset about this? He didn't care about Mickey, he hated the guy, why was he upset if his siblings started criticizing him? Sure, he had to play the part of the loyal boyfriend, but this shit really affected him in a way he wasn't expecting. He almost felt like punching a wall.

“Fuck!” he mumbled to himself.

He was in deep shit.

******

Ian hadn't slept well, he had turned and tossed all night, thinking about his situation with Mickey and the lie that kept on building, and he had woken up in the morning after only a couple of hours of sleep with the decision that he would end this arrangement. He didn't care what his siblings would say, he didn't care if he lost his room for a few days or a few weeks, it wasn't worth it. The only problem he was facing now was that he didn't have Mickey's phone number, nor did he know where he lived or worked, the only two times they had ran into each other had been pure chance, so ending the arrangement would prove to be quite difficult.

Ian took a somewhat cold shower to try to wake himself up, drank way more coffee than he should have on his meds, and headed out of the door, not at all ready for a day of work on only two hours and sixteen minutes of sleep. He had only gone down the stairs in front of his house when he slipped on a patch of ice and landed on his ass.

“Fuck!”

“Are you okay?” a weirdly familiar female voice asked.

Ian glanced to his right to see Mandy approaching carefully, trying not to recreate his fall. The redhead climbed back to his feet, massaging his lower back. He would definitely have a giant bruise there by the end of the day.

“What are you doing here?” he asked the newcomer.

“Mickey sent me to collect his payment for yesterday.” Mandy explained, looking utterly bored and annoyed by the commission she had been given. “Apparently he's way too busy doing something most likely not legal to come by himself.”

“Well you can tell him I'm not fucking paying him because he left.”

“Yeah, Mickey anticipated you might say that and he's okay to settle for only half.”

Ian let out a dry chuckle. The nerves on this guy!

“I'm paying him fifty bucks.” Ian declared. “And you can tell him the arrangement is off. I don't need him anymore, I'll work things out with my family on my end.”

He took two twenties and a ten out of his wallet that he handed Mandy, ready to be done with this discussion and with the Milkoviches for good. Mandy took the money and contemplated it for a moment, she then looked back up at Ian with a strange expression on her face.

“Why are you canceling the deal?” she asked. “Is it because you have the hots for my brother?”

“What? No!” Ian exclaimed. How could she think that?! “It's because he's fucking annoying and I can't deal with him anymore!”

Mandy tilted his head to the side, that expression still on her face, like she was studying Ian, and it made him extremely uncomfortable.

“Well, I'll give you that, he's an asshole.” she admitted. “But I think it's too bad you won't go through with it, I was kinda looking forward to see how it would end. And also I think my brother likes you.”

Well, that was news to Ian! What did she mean Mickey liked him? He wasn't... into him, was he? And why was Ian's heart even beating faster at the idea?

“No, he doesn't.” he said, trying not to read too much into all of this. “He really hates me.”

“Um... actually.” Mandy retorted with a smile. “When he hates someone he doesn't speak to them, or he breaks their kneecaps if they really push his buttons. You still have both your kneecaps and you've spent nine months in a prison cell with him, that's impressive. And not only does he still speak to you, he even agreed to this weird as fuck arrangement. Granted, there was money in it for him, but he's not that desperate for cash. So yeah, he doesn't hate you, and I think you could eventually be friends. My brother doesn't have a lot of friends, he doesn't even have _any_ friends.”

Well, Ian didn't really have any friends either, but he didn't exactly want a friend that insulted him for ninety percent of the time they spent together.

“Can I be friends with you instead?” he joked, earning a smile from Mandy.

“That can also be arranged.” she nodded. “Here, let me give you my number. I'll tell Mickey you want to end the deal, but in case you change your mind you can text me, and I'll smooth things over with him.”

“Thanks.” Ian grinned.

Okay, so he was starting to really like Mandy, if only her brother could be half as nice...

******

Finding a job with a criminal record hadn't been easy for Ian when getting out of prison, job hunting as a felon was, unsurprisingly, extremely difficult. Thankfully, he had been able to pull some strings and, if he hadn't been able to get his old job back as an EMT, he did manage to work at the hospital, first as a custodian and, after his parole ended, he moved up to desk clerk in the E.R. He wasn't allowed to take care of patients, but at least he was in the heat of the action most of the time, and his medical knowledge was greatly appreciated by the nurses, doctors and patients alike. That was already something, although, he did miss being allowed to actually save people and he sometimes regretted blowing up – literally – his career as an EMT.

Today was one of these days when he was bored out of his mind behind the desk because nothing out of the ordinary had happened in Chicago, and the E.R. was just filled with the usual sick people from the winter, a couple of homeless people escaping the cold, and one or two gunshot wounds. Ian's boredom wasn't helped by his lack of sleep. With his head resting on his hand, he felt himself slip into a nice slumber...

“Hey, lighten up!” his favorite nurse said with a smile as she walked past him. “Only a couple more hours and then we can start the Christmas party in the nurses lounge, and you're invited!”

She made a little dance move with her hips that made Ian laugh, and the prospect of Christmas cheers and alcohol coming to the hospital made the next hour or so go by must faster. When he was done with his shift, Ian headed for the locker room, leaving behind the pale greyish green coat he had to wear and checking his phone for messages before he could join the Christmas party. He only had a text from Debbie updating the whole family on her holiday plans. Ian had only just put his phone back in his locker when a voice calling his name made him jump.

“Yo, Gallagher!”

He turned around to see Mickey just standing here, in the locker room of the hospital.

“What the fuck?” Ian stuttered. “What are you doing here? How do you even know where I work?”

“I got my ways.” Mickey shrugged. “Look, Mandy told me you want to end the deal, and I get it, but I think it's stupid.”

Ian looked to his left and to his right, trying to find witnesses that could confirm that what he thought was happening was truly happening, but unfortunately they were alone in the room.

“Why do you think it's stupid?” he finally asked.

“It was the weirdest shit anybody had ever asked me to do.” Mickey started to explain. “And I've sold drugs and guns for a living, I've seen some _very weird_ shit. But I also think it was sort of fun, and I was making money out of it, and my sister likes your sister, and we've never been invited to a Christmas party before, and she was disappointed you backed out, and it's the Christmas spirit or whatever?”

Ian was very, _very_ confused by Mickey's poor excuse of an explanation, he couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but he had been thinking about Mandy's words all day and maybe he had been regretting canceling the arrangement in the first place.

“Okay.” he sighed. “But I want to make some adjustments to the deal: we need to stop being so aggressive toward each other, it doesn't sell the story, and you're not allowed to leave like you did yesterday, if we do this, you have to stay until I decide you can go.”

“Fine.” Mickey agreed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Also,” Ian added, knowing what he was about to say would probably not be accepted by the other man. “Debbie decided that Christmas wasn't long enough, so she extended the festivities to last the whole day of the 24th, the meeting time is no longer at 5pm, but at 10am now.”

Ian could see the cogs working in Mickey's brain, and he was waiting for the rejection, but it never came.

“Okay.” Mickey nodded, uncrossing his arms. “But you're buying me breakfast that day. And not some shitty coffee and bagel, I want the whole eggs, bacon and pancakes meal.”

“I can do that.” Ian smiled. “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go, I have a hospital Christmas party to attend.”

Ian waited for a beat. Mickey was still standing there.

“Unless you wish to join me...” the redhead added.

This seemed to launch Mickey into action, he looked truly offended and started to walk away.

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“That's what I thought.” Ian smirked. “See you on the 24th Mick!”


	4. Chapter 4, or Mickey has a lot of confusing feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wet dream, a bad day and a new deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't post yesterday because I was really busy, but even if I hadn't been, I don't think I would have updated, I was too mad. What a clusterfuck of a day...  
> #GallavichDeservesBetter, am I right?

There were a lot of opportunities to fuck guys in prison if you didn't really care for your personal safety, but Mickey wasn't part of this group, he cared, he cared way too much for his own life and he knew that everybody inside these walls knew his father one way or another and he didn't want things to get back to him. So he didn't satisfy his needs, he didn't let anyone go near his ass for the two years he was in there. The further he got to a proper sex life in prison was to let guys suck him off once or twice when he needed a favor or to assert his status as a top dog, and more often then not he ended up angrily jerking off in his bunk trying to release the tension that would otherwise take the form of a punch going from his fist to the stupid redhead's face with whom he shared a cell. Thankfully, life outside of prison was kinder on him, and Mickey managed to get his rocks off at least once or twice a week with strangers he met in bars and gay clubs and didn't exchange more than two words with. And he liked it that way because it meant no one close to him had to know what made his dick hard, and he could easily pretend he was a lone wolf who wasn't interested in finding a wife and was fully satisfied with one night stands with cheap and easy girls.

Things got more complicated though when he woke up the day after the Christmas Market and the ice skating rink from a dream that was way too sexy and involved way too much freckled redheads to his liking. What made matter worse was that he was still hard as a rock when fully conscious and he knew that if he started jerking off his mind would take him places he did not want to go to. So he took a cold shower and smoked a couple of cigarettes, waiting for his body temperature and lower area to cool down without him actually have to take manners in hand.

He had thought asking Mandy to go collect his payment would solve his problem, but when she came back saying Ian wanted to end the deal, Mickey was just left confused and angry and somehow even more horny. So he went around the neighborhood, collecting some money he was due from the local addicts, maybe punching a couple of them just because he could, and ended up being late to his legal, parole-appointed job. His PO was a weird and weak little man, but at least he was actually trying to help Mickey and he had found him this part-time mechanic job at a car shop his cousin owned or something. Mickey had to learn quite a bit about cars (until then he only knew how to hot-wire them) but it was a decent job that kept him from interacting with costumers too much, and the fact that what they did in the shop was not always entirely legal – not that his PO knew anything about that – helped him feel slightly more comfortable with the idea that he even had a job in the first place.

“You seem awfully angry today.” his boss greeted him. “Not that you aren't always angry, but today your level of anger seems higher than the norm.”

“Fuck off.” Mickey replied, walking away from having to talk more than these two simple words.

He spent the next hour working on the same part, not getting anything done because his brain had decided to replay on a loop of mix of his dream and Mandy telling him Ian wanted to back off of the arrangement. He should have been happy about that last one, he didn't want to do it in the first place, so why, why was his stupid brain begging him to go find the redhead to make him change his mind? He didn't want to spend more time with him, he wanted to punch him square in the face, but also he wanted to kiss him and get on his knees for him. He had never felt that way before, not when they were sharing a prison cell, and not with any other guy ever before, it was really confusing and annoying.

“Mickey, go home.” his boss' voice said at some point, distracting him from his thoughts.

“I'm not done here.” Mickey muttered back, trying to focus.

“And you won't be today.” his boss insisted. “I don't know what's wrong with you, but you're distracted and you won't get anything done today. So go home, I'm giving you the rest of the day off. Clear your head and come back when you're ready to do a decent job.”

Mickey decided not to argue further, his boss was right anyway, he was useless and he really felt like punching everything and everyone. He walked aimlessly around the neighborhood, not wanting to go home to Mandy's too cheerful apartment, and ended up knocking back a beer at the Alibi. He hadn't been there in years in his incessant quest to avoid his father, knowing it was the asshole's favorite bar, but he had heard a couple of weeks earlier that his piece of shit sperm donor had been picked up for some misdemeanor or another and was spending a little vacation in Cook County Jail. So Mickey allowed himself a beer or two in the Southside's best s _hittiest_ _b_ _ar_ – a title that was apparently official now – listening to the weird rants of Kev the barman. Most of it went over his head, but his curiosity was piqued when the conversation came to Frank Gallagher's latest shenanigans and how many times Ian had checked him in the E.R. in the last couple of months. The redhead's name was mentioned only in passing, but Mickey noted right away that he obviously worked in the E.R., so he threw a couple of bills on the counter next to his unfinished drink and headed out the door. He didn't know what he was going to do yet, but he had to try, he had to talk to Ian, he had to see him.

******

“Look, Mandy told me you want to end the deal, and I get it, but I think it's stupid.”

Mickey had tracked the redhead down, cornered him, and blurted out something he hadn't rehearsed, what could possibly go wrong? Understandably, Ian looked very confused, but Mickey wasn't sure how to explain himself, or even if he wanted to, he was already backtracking in his own head.

“It was the weirdest shit anybody had ever asked me to do.” he tried. “And I've sold drugs and guns for a living, I've seen some _very weird_ shit. But I also think it was sort of fun, and I was making money out of it, and my sister likes your sister, and we've never been invited to a Christmas party before, and she was disappointed you backed out, and it's the Christmas spirit or whatever?”

It seemed as if time had slowed down, Ian wasn't answering and he was staring Mickey down like he had grown a second head. Mickey was breathing harder, he was ready to bolt out the door any second now. What was he even doing here? Couldn't he just, maybe, kick Ian to the ground so that the redhead would definitely hate him and Mickey could be done with all of this and no longer be confused? Yeah, probably not, he would be violating his probation in a hospital filled with witnesses and going back to prison wasn't an option. Maybe he could simply leave and never cross path with Ian ever again, the redhead had wanted to back out of the deal after all, it was Mickey who came here to almost beg him, what was wrong with him?

“Okay.” Ian sighed, and Mickey felt his heart stop. What? This idiot was agreeing with whatever bullshit Mickey had spewed? That was almost too easy. “But I want to make some adjustments to the deal.” Ian added. “We need to stop being so aggressive toward each other, it doesn't sell the story, and you're not allowed to leave like you did yesterday, if we do this, you have to stay until I decide you can go.”

Mickey complied with all of Ian's new conditions, just adding a breakfast to appear like he was standing his ground, but really he would have said yes to anything, no questions asked. After that, Mickey was stuck in a blur of feelings. He still in fight or flight mode, but something else was topping all of that in his stomach, he was... happy? Was that even a thing? He wasn't quite sure...

Ian made what had to be a joke about a Christmas party, and then he was gone and Mickey was walking home. He crashed on his bed – not Mandy's, he had double checked – face first, trying to process all of the emotions he had felt from the moment he woke up to now and realizing December 24th was coming soon and he was not prepared _at all_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this was a little shorter than usual and nothing new happened in the plot, but Mickey had a lot of feelings to process so it was important. Processing feelings are important Shameless!! And talking things through!! And quiet scenes where nothing happens but Ian and Mickey talking and taking care of each other!! I'm mad, okay?!


	5. Chapter 5, or Mickey is very competitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A greasy breakfast, a gingerbread house building competition and a snowball fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I had some technical issues and almost lost the whole fic.
> 
> Also I had trouble writing after watching 10x07 because I kept writing Ian and Mickey domestic AF even though they're not a real couple in this, but at least it's a good problem to have I guess ;)

Ian was snuggled comfortably in his bed, in the bedroom he shared with no one, enjoying the first of his four days off for Christmas, planning on sleeping in as late as he could to get over the “Welcome home” party they had had for Fiona the night before, but apparently the world had other plans for him.

“Ian. Hey Ian!” Debbie's voice repeated, louder every time.

“What?” Ian mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow he was holding tightly.

“Your boyfriend's here.”

“What?”

“Your boyfriend. Mickey? He's downstairs.”

Ian opened his eyes slowly. Was it the 24th already? And why was Mickey here so early?

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Nine.” Debbie replied. “And it's about time you wake up, Christmas festivities start in an hour!”

Ian heard her leave the room and then he rolled out of bed – quite literally – not bothering to get dressed before he climbed downstairs in only his boxers and a T-shirt. Mickey was sitting on the couch, still in his winter coat, waiting patiently while all of the Gallaghers ignored him to go about their own businesses.

“Hey.” Ian greeted, making Mickey look up to see him, and the redhead didn't miss the way the other man's eyes checked him out. “What are you doing here so early?”

“You promised me breakfast Gallagher.” Mickey reminded him. “I'm here to collect.”

Yep, Ian had completely forgotten about that. He nodded, apologized, and ran back upstairs to put some decent clothes on and make good on his end of the deal.

******

They had chosen a small dinner called Bob's Big Boy, not far from the Gallagher house to be able to make it back in time for Debbie's big Christmas plans, and Ian had laughed as soon as Mickey had taken off his coat.

“What is that?”

The man was wearing a bright red and green woolen sweater with a giant beer bottle in the middle wrapped in Christmas lights.

“It's a Christmas sweater.” Mickey said matter-of-factly like he was wearing this type of clothes every day. “Your sister is all about cliché Christmas traditions so I thought I'd get in the spirit.”

Ian laughed harder, it was absolutely perfect and Mickey was weirdly pulling it off. The redhead almost felt out of place with his bland navy blue boring sweater, and he truly appreciated Mickey's dedication in that moment. The waitress came over, interrupting his hysterics, and they both ordered the same thing, “The Big Three”: three eggs, three pancakes, three strips of bacon and three sausages, all of it topped with whipped cream, butter and syrup. It was far from Ian's usual healthy breakfast, but it was Christmas after all, so why not? The redhead did order a glass of freshly pressed orange juice to go with it and feel slightly less guilty though.

“So, what _are_ Debbie's big plans for today?” Mickey asked after the waitress had written down their order and left for the kitchen.

“I'm not quite sure.” Ian shrugged. “I think there might be some gingerbread houses to build – I believe she even planned teams and a whole competition for that – she was also happy the snow that fell yesterday stuck because she wants us to build snowmen in the yard, and then go see Christmas lights... somewhere. And tonight there's a Christmas movie and, hopefully, _a lot_ of eggnog.”

“Wow.” Mickey breathed. “That's... a lot of Christmas shit.”

He shifted uncomfortably on his seat and Ian sympathized, it was a lot of take in.

“I know. But I'm sure we'll be able to avoid some of it, maybe sneak out or sneak in when she's not watching.”

“It's okay.” Mickey said after a moment. “I'm just not really used to it, never celebrated Christmas before.”

“Me neither.” Ian confessed. “Not really at least. I think that's why Debbie's going overboard this year, she's overcompensating for her daughter.”

Mickey nodded, and their food arrived, smelling all kind of delicious. They both dug in immediately, and Mickey was halfway through his first pancake when he seemed to remember something.

“Oh, I invited Mandy, I hope that's okay. She was giving me shit for leaving her alone on Christmas so I told her to come with. She might show up at one point or another during the day.”

“It's okay.” Ian smiled. “I like your sister, she's nice.”

“Contrary to me?” Mickey smirked.

“Hey, we haven't ripped each other's head off today, so I consider that a win.”

“Guess you're right.” Mickey shrugged. “You're almost tolerable this morning.”

******

As soon as they walked back inside the house, Debbie was grabbing both of them by the arm and dragging them to the kitchen where she had displayed five gingerbread houses kits in different strategic places. Ian and Mickey were placed by the table, next to Fiona and her boyfriend. Carl and his girlfriend were by the counter, sharing the space with Debbie and Liam, while Lip and Tami were set up on the washing machine, the kids scattered here and there to help their respective parents.

“You were serious with this?” Lip asked, very much annoyed, pointing at the pieces of cookie he was forced to assemble into a little habitat that nobody would eat.

“I was.” Debbie beamed. “We're making memories.”

“Forced memories.” Liam added, looking just as miserable as everyone else.

“I get it now.” Mickey whispered not so discreetly to Ian. “Your sister's worse than mine.”

“What's that now?” Fiona bit back to him, leaning over the table with daggers in her eyes.

“Oh Fiona, this is my boyfriend Mickey.” Ian introduced. “Mickey, this is my older sister Fiona. And he was talking about Debbie, not you.”

Fiona relaxed immediately and nodded approvingly.

“Yeah, she's always been a lot but this... This is insane...”

“Enough chit chat, people!” Debbie exclaimed. “I'm ready to start the timer. We have one hour, when it goes off, the duo with the best looking house wins!”

“What do we win?” Carl dared to ask.

“It's a surprise.” Debbie winked.

“Great...”

“Ready... Set... Go!”

Ian started unboxing the pieces of gingerbread as soon as Debbie started the timer, as Mickey just watched him.

“Are you gonna help?”

“Are you seriously playing along with this shit?”

Ian stood back up and turned toward Mickey. He was fully aware that Debbie's competition was ridiculous and not at all in Mickey's wheelhouse, but a part of him really wanted to try and participate, and he wanted Mickey to be there with him. He took a step forward, getting as close to Mickey as he possibly could to make them appear like a couple without scaring Mickey from getting in his personal space.

“Come on Mick.” he said lowly. “It can be fun. And I know you're competitive, don't you want to win this?”

Mickey bit his lower lip, then smirked.

“Fine. But your siblings better not cry like little bitches when our house is the best.”

Ian laughed and Mickey finally starting helping. Building a gingerbread house in under an hour when you've never done it before was hard as fuck: soon enough there was icing everywhere, Carl and his girlfriend had given up after the walls of their house had fallen apart for the third time, Fred was crying because his parents weren't letting him eat all the candy, Debbie was yelling at Liam for doing it wrong, and Fiona's hair was the most unbelievable mess it had ever been. Ian and Mickey were doing okay, their house was standing at least and Mickey was holding onto the roof, waiting for it to stick, when Ian picked a few M&M's and started throwing them at him, trying to make him loose his focus, at this point he didn't really care about winning the competition anymore, it was just fun. But Mickey wasn't in the same head space, he kept his hands and eyes on the house, making sure it stayed put.

“As soon as this shit dries, you're going down Gallagher.” he muttered with a small smile he was failing to hide.

Thankfully for Ian, Mickey didn't have time to retaliate because Fiona and her boyfriend were making headways and Mickey wanted to win so badly that he didn't let his attention slip from his task and he was soon decorating the most elaborate gingerbread house. Feeling slightly guilty about having roped him into this and then lost interest, Ian redeemed himself by creating a little front yard for the house.

The timer went off when nobody was expecting it and Debbie screamed until everybody had their hands in the air and not on their house. It was determined almost at unanimity that Ian and Mickey's house was a winner, with Fiona and her boyfriend's house a close second. Lip and Tami's and Debbie and Liam's houses came equally third because they were equally bad, and Carl and his girlfriend's house was not even mentioned.

“So what's the prize?” Mickey asked, not loosing sight of what truly mattered.

“A Christmas body wash and shampoo set.” Debbie declared, taking a shopping bag out from under the kitchen sink. “It's supposed to smell like gingerbread, to remind you of your victory. And, in case the winners were a couple and not Liam and me, I also got a box of condoms because we don't need anymore Gallaghers crawling around or, in your case guys, STDs.”

“Oh, great.” Mickey said unenthusiastically as Ian felt himself blush a deep, bright red.

Debbie handed them the items, and then turned to Fiona and her boyfriend.

“I also got two pairs of Christmas socks for the people who came in second.”

Fiona thanked her sister happily and, after that, everybody scattered around, leaving Ian still standing there, holding his brand new box of condoms while Mickey inspected the Christmas smelling soap with a frown.

“So um....”

“You wanna exchange?”

“Yep.”

Ian handed the condoms over to Mickey, trying not to think about the girls he would certainly be using them with, and grabbed the body wash and shampoo set. At least, he would be smelling like Christmas for the foreseeable future, so that was something.

******

About half an hour later, the whole family was outside in the yard building snowmen and other snow sculptures: Lip was showing Freddy how to make an elaborate robot, Carl's snowman looked more like a dick than anything else, and Ian was enjoying some uncle time with Franny, helping her to make the snow dog she wanted. He didn't see the snowball coming until it was already on his face and sliding down his neck and under his many layers of clothing. He looked up to see Mickey laughing a few feet away.

“That's for the M&M's earlier Gallagher!” Mickey declared smugly, and Ian abandoned Franny's dog to collect enough snow to reciprocate.

Soon enough, the whole yard had turned into a battlefield, and snow was flying everywhere, hitting everyone. There were no teams, it was every men and women for themselves and they played dirty. Ian was very close to drenched but he didn't give a shit, he was having too much fun. He hadn't manage to fully get Mickey yet, the fucker was too fast, but he had spotted him launching an assault on Carl, so Ian attacked from behind and hit him square in the head. Mickey turned around with a shocked face and charged, tackling Ian into the snow. They struggled and fought, trying to get as much snow in the other's face as possible, until what had started as a childish game became a very hot foreplay that had Ian's dick excited. Mickey was sitting on top of him, straddling his hips and holding his wrists above his head and Ian was very glad he was wearing so many layers and such thick pants. He moved around a bit, bucking his hips into Mickey's not-so-accidentally and he was sure he heard a moan, before Lip yelled at them to “get a room” and Mickey was spooked enough to disentangle himself from Ian. The redhead laid there in the snow, taking a deep breath and willing the party going on in his pants to calm the fuck down. He heard Mickey walk away and greet Mandy who had apparently just arrived. Then Lip's head was just above Ian's, looking down at his brother.

“You're okay, dude?”

“Yep.” Ian smiled, finally getting up. “All good.”

He watched from afar as Mickey introduced his sister to all the people that didn't already knew her. At some point Mickey turned around and they caught each other's glance, but Mickey looked away too fast for Ian to make anything of it. The redhead had heard a moan, he was sure of it, and he really wanted to hear it again.


	6. Chapter 6, or Ian Gallagher is way too hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Gallagher party and a late night confession

Mickey was so relieved that Mandy had decided to show up, distracting him from Gallagher. It had started this morning, when Ian had decided to come downstairs barely clothed and Mickey hadn't had any choice but to admire his sexy figure, and then they had an actual good day, they didn't fight, they didn't insult each other, they talked and shared, and they even had fun. It was all still very confusing for Mickey, but the little scuffle they had in the snow really cleared things up: he was insanely attracted to the redhead and he really wished their rough housing had been in a bed with no witness and no clothes on so he could have done more straddling and thrusting. The situation wasn't bad in itself: they were both single consenting gay men, and if they had met in a club or a bar, Mickey would have been all over Ian, but the whole “boyfriend” situation made it complicated. Ian could say he was pushed into the lie by his sister as much as he wanted, Mickey knew there was some truth behind it, Gallagher was a boyfriend material kinda guy, not a one night “wham bam thank you ma'am” type, and Mickey wasn't quite sure he was ready for that. Or rather, he was terrified that his environment and the people in his life weren't ready for that.

“You okay?” Mandy asked him, distracting him from his thoughts.

“Yeah.” Mickey breathed.

He looked over to where he knew Ian was standing, but seeing the redhead looking at him that way wasn't what he needed right now.

“How are things going with Ian?” Mandy wondered when the Gallaghers were far enough away that they wouldn't hear her.

“They're going.” Mickey shrugged.

Mandy stared at him for a long time and Mickey felt like running away.

“What?”

“I just...” she hesitated. “You know I love you, right?”

“The fuck are you talking about?” he barked, trying to hide his discomfort – Milkoviches never said that shit to each other, ever. “Christmas making you all sappy?”

Mandy punched him in the arm, hard.

“Don't be an asshole. I just wanted you to know that, Mickey, that, no matter what, I love you. You'll always be my dickhead brother that I want to slap half the time but that I love anyway.”

She empathized the declaration with a pointed look and Mickey didn't like the implications of what it meant, it was like she was boring into his soul and digging out his deepest, darkest secret only to tell him it was fine and that he had no reason to hide it. Fuck that, if he wanted to hide, he was going to hide, he was tired of his sister getting everything she wanted and bossing him around. He looked away from Mandy to see Ian walking toward them with a smile.

“Hey.” he greeted Mandy. “I'm happy to see you could join us.”

Mandy smiled back, telling Ian about one thing or another Mickey didn't care about. He was about to walk away when he felt the giant redhead wrap an arm around his neck and kiss his cheek. _The fuck?_

“We should go change.” Ian said softly. “We're gonna catch a cold if we stay wet. I'll loan you something.”

Then Ian was dragging Mickey toward the house, holding his hand firmly. Mickey had to remember they were surrounded by Gallaghers and they were supposed to be boyfriends, otherwise he would have fled. And when he came to terms with that idea, he realized it felt actually kinda nice to be holding hands like this, and to have Ian kiss him on the cheek and care about him not getting cold. _What was wrong with him?_

Ian's clothes were way too soft and comfortable, Mickey wanted to stay in them forever. As they were all sitting around the table having lunch, Mickey had to stop himself from creepily smelling the shirt and sweater Ian had given him, it was a problem. And the stupid ginger idiot kept smiling at him and casually touching him in a way that made Mickey want to deck him but also kiss him. This was going to be a long day...

******

The rest of Debbie's program was much easier to handle: after lunch, the neighbors and bar owners Kevin and Veronica came by with their two daughters, and the family voted on a Christmas movie to watch, they began with Home Alone and then they decided to continue with Die Hard as everybody was quite tired and too lazy to do anything else. Around dinner time, the kids started to get excited talking about Santa, so their parents gave them a quick meal and then put them to bed, telling them Santa would come much sooner that way, and once all the children were out of the way, the music was turned up and the booze came out of hiding.

It was around nine that Mickey decided it might be time for him to go home – he had been in this house for twelve hours after all – but Debbie didn't seem to agree.

“You need to stay the night!” she almost yelled over the music. “That's why Ian is not sharing a room with Liam! And tomorrow the kids are going be up at the crack of dawn to open presents so you need to be around.”

“I'm okay.” Mickey tried to argue. “I'll just go home with Mandy and we'll be back tomorrow for lunch.”

“Oh no you aren't.” Mandy chipped in. “ _I_ am going home because I invited a bunch of girl friends to come drink and party tonight, and you don't want to be there, _believe_ me. Also it's my apartment and I'm kicking you out.”

Mickey raised his eyebrows in anger, his sister was being a bitch and she knew it. He turned to Ian to try to get some help, a night at his place wasn't part of the deal after all, but the redhead just smirked.

“I guess you just have to stay here.”

Mickey almost flipped him off, but then Ian grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the crowd.

“Come on.” he whispered. “I'll get you some weed for your trouble.”

******

They smoked some of the weed, but not too much – Mickey wanted to stay lucid to not do something he would regret – then drank some more and partied with the rest of the family until people were disappearing into rooms and Mickey was led to discover Ian's room. It was quite small, just big enough for a double bed, a tiny side table and a dresser crammed in the corner. Ian closed the folding door and sent him a small, shy smile.

“I can get you some pajamas if you want.”

“Sure.” Mickey shrugged, not daring to say he usually slept in nothing but his boxers. “Just the pants, I can keep the shirt I have on.”

Ian smiled again and searched through the dresser, getting a pair of sweatpants out.

“I'll... er... I'll go to the bathroom and you can change.”

Mickey nodded and watched Ian disappear out of the room. He quickly changed into the pants, took his sweater off, and dropped down on the bed, covering his face with his hands. What a shit show!

“Are you okay?” Ian asked when he came back, also wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt, closing the door back behind himself. “I'm sorry I made you stay, it wasn't cool. Well I guess I didn't really make you stay, Mandy did, but still...”

“It's okay.” Mickey sighed, uncovering his face and sitting up. “It's not the first time we sleep in the same room, right?”

“True. But we never slept in the same bed.”

They both paused, looking at the bed as if it had offended them somehow.

“Yeah.” Mickey said hesitantly. “About that...”

“I can sleep on the floor!” Ian interrupted him.

Mickey shook his head with a chuckle.

“Have you seen the size of this room, man? There's no room on the floor! Also, from what I've gathered from your family, they're not exactly big on privacy, so what happens if one of them walks in and you're sleeping on the floor instead of in the bed with your boyfriend?”

“They'll never believe we're saving ourselves for marriage, will they?” Ian laughed.

“Fuck no!” Mickey exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. “Are you though?”

“God no.” Ian rolled his eyes.

“I don't know, man, you didn't want the condoms earlier.”

“Because I have nobody to use them with, not because I'm saving myself or some shit, this ship has sailed years ago!”

“Oh yeah?” Mickey challenged with a wiggle of eyebrows. “When?”

“Are we really gonna talk about my first time right now?”

“What else are we gonna do?”

Ian seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then he shrugged and sat on the bed, facing Mickey.

“Okay then. I was fifteen and his name was Roger Spikey.”

“Your first time was with Donkey Dick Spikey?!” Mickey exclaimed, not able to help himself.

“And it wasn't just a nickname.” Ian winked.

Oh shit. Mickey felt challenged now. He had heard about Donkey Dick Spikey back when he was spending more time collecting than studying in high school, but he had never actually met the guy, even less seen his dick, he had always believed it was an urban legend.

“What about you?” Ian asked in return.

The redhead's face was all open and gentle, waiting for a simple answer, and Mickey knew it was his moment. He could lie and keep pretending, but, for some reason, he really wanted to tell the truth.

“It depends. Are we talking girl or guy?” he wondered innocently.

Ian's mouth opened wide, then closed, and his cheeks blushed. If Mickey ever used that kind of language, he would have said it was almost adorable. He decided to take him out of his misery and elaborate.

“With a girl, I was 13 and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I felt like I had to because my brothers were talking about nothing but girls and my dad was on my back constantly. With a guy... I was 16 and in juvie. It was only a hummer but it was much better.”

Ian blinked a few times, taking in the confession.

“You're...”

“Gay? Yeah.”

Mickey could count on the fingers of one hand how many times he had said it out loud, but each new time felt a little bit easier.

“But I thought...” Ian stuttered. “You said you weren't...”

“I said I wasn't out and proud, the rest is all you.”

“Does Mandy know?”

“I never told her, if that's what you're asking.”

“But she knows?”

“Probably.”

“Okay.” Ian breathed.

The silence settled between them for so long it became uncomfortable.

“We should sleep.” Mickey finally said, just to say something.

“Yeah.” Ian said. “We should.”

As they settled for the night, both desperately trying to stay as far away from the other as possible, Mickey wondered if he had done the right thing telling Ian about his sexuality, it felt like a huge confession that would change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the end guys :)


	7. Chapter 7, or how to express your feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A morning wood, a runaway and a conniving sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to post this chapter on Christmas Eve so it's unedited and probably not at its best, but I might come back to it later. Maybe.

As much as he tried to stay away from Mickey during the night, Ian woke up – to nobody's surprise – snuggled up against the other man, in a big spoon/little spoon situation, his longer body wrapped around Mickey's smaller one. And he had a situation down south that he had really hoped wouldn't happen: he had a full on morning wood pressed against Mickey's ass and he had no idea how to get out of it. He stayed perfectly still for way longer than was comfortable, hoping maybe Mickey would move out of the way so he didn't have to, but nothing happened. So he made the slightest attempt, but that only resulted in him rubbing against Mickey and biting his lips hard not to make any noise of pleasure. He cursed all the gods he knew that he hadn't had sex in so long, he should have just gone and scratch that itch before Christmas Eve so that this moment could have been avoided. He was about to just make a run for it, when he felt Mickey push back against him. Ian wasn't sure it was voluntary, the other man could have still been sleeping. He waited a little longer, and Mickey did it again, more noticeably this time, his ass really grinding against Ian's dick. Throwing all caution to the wind, the redhead responded, repeating the movement, rocking his hips slowly. He heard Mickey moan and he was sure of it this time, so he did again, and again, until he was panting against Mickey's bare neck, and Mickey was letting out little gasps and sighs. Ian still had a hand resting against Mickey's stomach, and he felt Mickey grab that hand, holding it tight and bringing it against his own rock hard dick. Ian understood the message right away and started to rub Mickey through his pants, mimicking the movement of his hips. It was slow and deep, and they never exchange a word nor did they express the desire to shed some pieces of clothing. Mickey gripped Ian's ass with the hand that was not still under his head from his sleeping position, and brought them even closer. They dry humped each other to orgasm like a couple of teenage boys, trying to stay as quiet as possible in a house full of Gallaghers. Ian came first, burying a curse in the skin of Mickey's neck, and accelerating the movement of his hand. Mickey wasn't long after that, groaning lowly.

And then all was quiet in the room. They stayed against each other for a long time, not moving an inch, coming down from a high they didn't know how to address. Finally Ian detached himself from Mickey, rolling away on his back. He stared at the ceiling and felt Mickey stand from the bed to change. Without a word, the redhead did the same, handing the other man one of his clean boxers. Mickey nodded his thanks and finished changing, putting his now dry clothes from the day before back on, the Christmas sweater looking absolutely ridiculous in this situation. They didn't make eye contact once.

“I... I gotta go.” Mickey mumbled once he was ready, and he didn't Ian the time to stop him before he was out the door.

“Mickey, wait!”

The redhead chased him down the stairs, but Mickey was already leaving through the kitchen's door. Ian let out a deep sigh as the door was being shut in his face, and he turned around to see Debbie and Fiona looking at him.

“Everything okay, pumpkin?” Fiona asked in her most motherly voice.

Ian shook his head and came to sit at the counter, facing them both.

“Not really.” he admitted.

He looked up at both his sisters still watching him and he decided that it was time to confess, they had seen Mickey run away anyway, and the man probably wouldn't come back for lunch.

“Mickey isn't really my boyfriend.” he said softly. “I paid him to pretend to be, so that I would get the room.”

“I knew it!” Debbie said with a big smile. “I knew you were bullshiting me when you said you had a boyfriend!”

Ian opened his mouth and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“You knew?!”

“Yeah.” Debbie shrugged. “Why do you think I asked you so many questions and tried to make you crack? I was waiting for you to fold under the pressure.”

This is unbelievable, he went through all of that trouble and Debbie knew from the start...

“Then why did you believe Mickey was my boyfriend?”

Debbie shook her head with a chuckle.

“I never thought that. I saw you two arguing from across the street, so I thought I'd make you both uncomfortable by calling him your boyfriend and that you would confess to your lie. I honestly never thought you'd take it this far.”

“You're evil...” Ian breathed, but, to be honest, he was kind of impressed by his sister's genius.

“So what happened?” Fiona asked gently, bringing Ian back to Mickey.

He sighed and dropped his head on his hands.

“We had an amazing talk last night. And then this morning we sorta had sex? Dry humping at least. And then he fled.”

Debbie shuddered when Ian mentioned the sex part.

“I really didn't think you'd take it this far...” she muttered.

“Personally I didn't know and I saw some sparks.” Fiona smiled. “Do you like him?”

Did Ian like Mickey? Yes, yes he did. It had taken him a while to realize it and admit but now he truly did. He wanted to be with him properly, without the exchange of money and the lies, he wanted to take him out on a date, and kiss him, and do more of what they did that morning...

“I really do.” he finally said. “I know I was paying him to pretend, but some of it was real, he couldn't have faked that.”

Fiona smiled again, and patted her brother's hand softly. She opened her mouth but Debbie didn't let her talk.

“So go tell him you big dofus!” the smallest Gallagher exclaimed enthusiastically. “Go get your guy!”

Ian and Fiona both laughed at her energy.

“What she said.” the oldest Gallagher added.

******

Finding Mickey didn't end up being that hard, Ian simply texted Mandy, she told him her brother had come home not long ago and sent him their address, it was mustering the courage to talk to him that was difficult. Ian paced in front of the apartment building for a good five minutes before he finally decided to press their apartment number on the buzzer. Mandy was the one to welcome him in, first directing him to the elevator and then opening the door when he got to their floor, meeting Ian in the hallway.

“What happened?” she asked, worried. Her hair was a mess, she was still in her pajamas, and she had dark circles under her eyes, signifying a pretty short night. “Mickey came home slamming the door so hard it woke me up. And he's locked himself inside his bedroom, he refuses to talk to me.”

“We had... a thing...” Ian answered, keeping his eyes on the floor. “I just need to talk to him.”

“Be my guest.”

Mandy showed him inside. The apartment was warm and cosy, very un-Milkovich, and Mickey's room was all the way down the hall. Ian knocked, watching Mandy disappear into her own bedroom.

“Fuck off, Mandy.” Mickey bellowed from inside.

“It's not Mandy.”

There was a pause, a few seconds of silence, and then the door was opened, revealing Mickey, still wearing his Christmas sweater.

“What are you doing here Gallagher?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Because you left without barely saying anything. I want to talk about... what happened... between us.”

Mickey sighed. He threw a look down the hall, but Mandy's bedroom door was still firmly close. He stepped aside, letting Ian in and closing his own door behind them. Mickey's bedroom was very different from the rest of the apartment: dark and messy, but with a lot pictures and drawings on the walls – Ian remembered some of those from prison.

“Look.” Mickey started, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “What happened cannot happen again. It was fun and all but that's it.”

He was not going to lie, Ian expected such a statement from the other man, but it didn't help how much it stung to hear it.

“Why the fuck not, Mickey?” he challenged. “We fuck around and then you just run away and leave me hanging and that's it?”

“Never had a one night stand before, Gallagher?” Mickey barked back, his voice raising an octave. “That's pretty much how they work!”

“I fucking know that, okay?!” Ian was aware he was screaming by now, but he was too riled up, he just kept going. “I just thought I meant more to you than a random one night stand, but I guess I was wrong! Excuse me for believing I'm worth more than dirt under your fucking shoe!”

Mickey rubbed his face with his hand and chuckled nervously. He wasn't looking at Ian, he hadn't been looking at him since the redhead entered his room.

“I told you I'm not out, okay? I don't know what the fuck you want from me but I can't give it to you!”

“I didn't ask for anything, I just want you! And I thought you wanted me too this morning!”

“I did! I do want you!”

The shouting match died down as soon as Mickey confessed these words, and he finally looked at Ian, his breathing missing a beat when their eyes met.

“Then why did you run away?” Ian pleaded. “What the fuck have I done wrong?”

“Nothing!” Mickey shouted back. “I just fucking like you, okay? A lot!”

He suddenly grabbed Ian and planted a hard kiss on his lips.

“Here. See?!”

Ian's anger was knocked out of him with Mickey's almost comical inability to express his feelings. Not that the redhead was much better in this area, maybe they were both fucked for life and that was made it work between them. So he laughed, he just laughed at their crazy situation until he spotted Mickey's anxious lip biting.

“I fucking like you too.” he grinned, taking a step closer to wrap Mickey in his arms. “I really do.”

Mickey smiled too, kissing Ian again, more softly this time, a real tender kiss. But then, his eyebrows frowned, a crease forming in between them. He took a step back, moving away from Ian's embrace.

“I've never...” he was looking for his words and Ian let him. “I've never told anyone, about... me. Mandy probably knows, and she's cool, but... If my dad finds out...”

He was back to avoiding Ian's eyes, and his breathing seemed to become more difficult.

“Hey.” Ian called gently, trying to get Mickey to focus on him. “We won't let him find out, okay? He's in prison, right? And you live far away from him. If it means we can't do PDA in his neighborhood than it's fine, we can do that. He doesn't need to know.”

Mickey's shoulders relaxed the slightest bit and he glanced back at the redhead.

“I just...” he hesitated. “I've never done that before, the whole... boyfriend thing.”

“Me neither.” Ian admitted.

Mickey took a step forward, coming back to Ian.

“Then what are we gonna do?” he asked.

“Don't know.” Ian shrugged. “Maybe more of that.” he leaned in to kiss Mickey's lips in a shot peck. “Maybe more of the other thing.” he wiggled his eyebrows. “And we'll just... figure it out as we go.”

“I like that.” Mickey whispered. “I really like that.”


	8. Chapter 8, or how to live happily ever after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow, an anniversary and a pillow talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess I totally disappeared, huh? To be honest, I wanted to post this chapter on Christmas Day but then I realized I also wanted to spend time with my family so... here we are.
> 
> ATTENTION: before you read this chapter, I just want to let you know that I re-wrote the end of the last chapter. I posted it too fast the first time and I wasn't satisfied with it, so I came back to it.

Ian climbed the few steps leading up to the door and entered the Gallagher house, shaking himself to get the snow off this hair, coat and shoes. He blew into his hands, warming them up, before stepping in the living room.

“Uncle Ian!” Fred greeted him happily. “It's snowing outside!”

The little boy seemed so overjoyed about that fact and Ian understood: Freddy had been hoping for snow every day for the past three weeks after all, and now that it was there he could do nothing else but be happy about it.

“Yeah, I saw that.” Ian smiled as his nephew climbed onto a chair to peak through the window. “Hey, is your dad around?”

“In the kitchen with Aunt Debbie.”

“Thanks.”

As informed, Ian found his brother and sister in the kitchen, hovered over the counter, in the middle of an intense conversation.

“I'm not doing that again!” Lip exclaimed. “Last year was too fucking much! One over-the-top Christmas every decade and that's it!”

“I'm with Lip.” Ian chipped in. “No gingerbread house building this year, or fucking caroling!”

“You didn't even come to the caroling last year!” Debbie argued.

“Yeah, for a reason: it sucks.”

Debbie sighed loudly and crossed her arms over her chest in frustration.

“We still need to do something!” she pleaded. “One activity as a family, even if Fiona's not coming this year because she's spending the holidays in her new husband's family.”

Debbie blurted out the last bit of information in a very bitter tone, she was clearly disappointed about Fiona not coming, and Ian got it: they all missed their big sister immensely, but whether or not she would come visit, he wouldn't agree to a big Christmas extravaganza like the previous year, this shit had been way too much.

“We can make hot chocolate and binge-watch a bunch of Christmas movies.” he suggested. “Maybe even go out and play in the snow if it sticks.”

“That could be nice.” Lip approved. “We'll be together anyway, we don't need to go all out to make it count. And as long as the kids get presents they'll be happy.”

“Fine.” Debbie conceded, defeated.

She stood up and walked over to the sink, suddenly looking up at Ian like she just noticed his presence.

“What are you even doing here?” she asked. “Aren't you supposed to be in your brand new apartment? There's no point in moving out if you keep coming back here all the time.”

“I just came by to pick up the nice dress shirt I think I forgot here.” he explained, already going through the laundry basket of clean, properly folded clothes in the corner. “And Lip, did you bring the tie I asked you for?”

“Yep.” his brother replied, pointing at the three ties already laid down on the table.

“Great, thanks!”

“What do you need all of that for?” Debbie wondered, watching her brother trying to figure out which tie went best with the shirt he had found.

“Got a date.”

“Don't have dates like every week? Aren't you guys living together?”

“Not officially.” Lip pointed out.

“I never asked him.” Ian confirmed.

Debbie filled the glass she had found in the sink with water and walked over to Ian making an important tie-related life decision at the kitchen table.

“But does he even sleep at his place anymore?” she asked.

“No.” Ian admitted.

“So you definitely live together.” she shrugged, picking up a tie and holding it up. “This one. Why are you going all fancy anyway? Are you going to propose or something?”

“Fuck no!” Ian almost screamed. He felt himself blush and grabbed the tie Debbie had picked up for him. He couldn't say that the idea of marriage hadn't crossed his mind more than once, but he knew they weren't ready. One day, one day he'd propose.

“It's their anniversary.” Lip supplied.

“Didn't you guys get together on Christmas day? I remember, I was the one who told you to go after him.”

“It's the anniversary of the day I asked him to be my fake boyfriend.” Ian finally confessed.

“Isn't that cute?” Lip snorted.

“Shut up, it is.” Ian flipped him off. “This dark green tie is the best, right?”

“Definitely.” Debbie nodded. “And it is cute, it's adorable Ian, I'm happy for you.”

******

Mickey had found the idea of celebrating the anniversary of the day Ian has asked him to be his fake boyfriend just as ludicrous as Ian's siblings, but he had agreed to go for it anyway. They had chosen a semi-fancy restaurant and went all in with the food and the wine even though neither of them actually liked wine. And then they had walked back to Ian's brand new one-bedroom apartment in which half of the stuff belonged to Mickey. They had a couple of rounds of very hot sex, and then laid down tangled in the bed they had bought together and Ian didn't mind sharing at all.

“Hey Mick?”

“Yeah?”

“We... We live together, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean all of your stuff are here and you don't live at your sister's anymore. Actually I'm pretty sure she even got a roommate to rent your room.”

“Well, I guess we do live together then. Why? That scares you, Gallagher?”

“No. In fact, I'm pretty happy about it, I love you.”

“Shut up. … I love you too.”

“I know. Merry Christmas Mickey.”

“It's not Christmas yet.”

“Shh... Let me have this.”

“You're an idiot. Merry Christmas Ian.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and/or comments. And you can also come talk and share with me on my [tumblr](http://ilostmylifeonline.tumblr.com/), it's always appreciated. :)


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